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Division welcomes three new employees

In January 2018, the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs welcomed three new employees to its staff. Following are profiles of these talented individuals who are helping the agency in its efforts to save Delaware history.

Three of the newest members of the Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs’ team. From left: Laura Walsh, Ed Larrivee and Sara Clendaniel

As the division’s volunteer-services coordinator, Sara Clendaniel is working to recruit, and fully utilize the talents of, a dedicated cadre of volunteers who can help the agency preserve Delaware’s historical legacy. A lifelong resident of Magnolia, Del., she comes to the division after serving as an AmeriCorps volunteer-coordinator working with Sussex County Habitat for Humanity to build and repair housing in Ellendale, Laurel and Seaford, Del. A 2016 graduate of the University of Delaware, Clendaniel holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations with a minor in business administration. During her college years, she served on the board of the student chapter of Canine Companions for Independence which helps train service dogs.

As a member of the division’s Collections, Affiliates, Research and Exhibits (CARE) team, exhibit-arts specialist Ed Larrivee’s responsibilities include graphic- and Web-design, as well as tasks associated with the design, fabrication and installation of exhibits at the state’s five museums and associated sites. Originally from Dover, Del., the Camden, Del. resident holds a bachelor’s degree in digital film-making from Wilmington University and an associate’s degree in multi-media design from Delaware Technical and Community College. Larrivee’s keen interest in history derives, in part, from his mother Joan who has served for many years as an architectural historian for the Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, and his father Ed Larrivee Sr., the longtime owner of Larrivee Designer Hardware Center, an antique and specialty-hardware shop in Dover.

Curator of Collections Management Laura Walsh’s responsibilities center on the research, cataloging, preservation and storage of the significant collection of historic materials owned by the State of Delaware including museum objects, archaeological artifacts, works of art and many others. She holds a master’s degree in museum studies from George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Temple University. Prior to joining the division staff, Walsh worked on a project that relocated the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s collections to a new curation facility. The Philadelphia-area native now lives in Newark, Del.